Always You
by AccioLumos1832
Summary: In sixth year, James decides to follow Remus's advice to get Lily to change her disapproving opinion of him. When Lily and James start to develop a friendsihp, James begins a relationship with Marie Clarence and Lily starts to recognise feelings within herself that she never thought she'd get for James Potter. Will James move on with Marie, or will he choose Lily?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: ****This story was originally meant to be a take on James/OC and Lily developing feelings for him. I deleted this story a while ago due to the fact that I received some rather nasty private messages about it, so I decided to redo it and change the story completely. **

**I hope you enjoy this version of Always You a lot better than the first.**

**Dedicated to all of you who have followed my Jily fics since I started The Lily. **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the amazing JK!**

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Their sixth year had started. James was dreading another school year of being stuck with the girl he liked but hated him in return. Okay, he had constantly asked her out during the last school year; only to be rejected. And okay, he had practically stalked Lily to the extent that he'd wait outside the girl's bathroom and serenade her which only made the other girls swoon to which Lily angrily replied that she'd rather date a troll and to ask one of his swooning fans out. But what Lily didn't realise was he was only that way because he believed himself not worthy of her affection and did those things in hopes of impressing her and maybe she'd return his feelings and make him feel worthy of her. Lily Evans was the perfect girl in his eyes; she was beautiful, loyal, intelligent, had the most amazing laugh and a heart warming smile that lit up like a summer's day. He had never been able to get her out of his head from the moment he set eyes on her when they first met on the train all those years ago.

"Oi Prongs."

James snapped out of his daydream and turned his attention from the blurry fields that they were passing to his best friends. The lunch trolley had stopped outside their compartment and Peter had already gotten off his seat to buy as much as he could. James chucked Sirius some galleons and asked him to get him some chocolate frogs, in hopes of collecting Morgan Le Fay, one of the few cards he had yet to collect.

"Thinking about Lily again?" Remus asked.

James shrugged, "I want her to see the person I am that you guys see."

Remus nodded and caught a chocolate frog that Sirius had chucked at him, "Would you like some advice?"

James sat up a little straighter and nodded eagerly, he'd happily listen to Remus(who they had called the sensible marauder due to his prefect status) if it meant getting somewhere with Lily.

"This year cut down the detentions. Hand in your homework to a good standard and on time, hex fewer people for your own amusement because she sees that as bullying. Don't constantly ask her out, have a mature conversation with her. You might become friends with her that way."

"So take a different approach to getting her to go out with me?"

Remus rolled his eyes and took a large bite out of his chocolate frog and swallowed it whole.

"Prongs, that's not what I meant. If you follow my advice and become friends with her, she might see you as more mature and see the James that we see. She has no idea what you guys do for me." Remus said quietly.

James nodded slowly, deep in thought that he didn't realise that his chocolate frog had made it's escape. Maybe Remus was right, if he followed Moony's advice there might be a good chance that Lily would reconsider her opinion of him; and after what had happened with Snape last June, she had a pretty low opinion of him right now.

"Cheers Moony, I'll give it a try."

Sirius snorted and finished his chocolate frog, causing James to turn and look at him quizzically.

"What's that supposed to mean Pads?" James questioned.

"Just that you're a total idiot the minute your eyes lay on Evans."

"It's not my fault she's so beautiful, if you guys saw her in the way I do then you'd be the same."

"But Sirius is." Peter chipped in.

James turned to Sirius and grinned and Sirius turned his attention to another chocolate frog. He knew what Peter meant, except Sirius didn't act the way that James did whenever his gaze went to Lily. Sirius had only ever properly had feelings for one girl and that girl happened to be Marlene McKinnon, Lily's best friend. Except, Sirius didn't handle it well, he dated one girl for about three weeks before he got bored and moved on to the next one; anything to distract him from his feelings for the McKinnon girl.

"Will you be acting upon your feelings for Miss McKinnon?" James teased.

Sirius shrugged, "Doubt it. She hates me just as much as Evans dislikes you Prongs. Except I'm a known 'man whore' around school so she's hardly going to think highly of me anytime soon."

"You've got it bad."

Sirius met James's eye, "Just drop it please and as punishment for teasing me about Marlene, I'm not swapping my Morgan Le Fay card." and he cackled.

The next thing Remus and Peter knew was that James and Sirius were wrestling over a chocolate frog card, with playful punches being thrown and kicks being aimed in the leg but actually hitting Peter. Remus chuckled and looked out of the window as they went past several green fields, this year was certainly going to be an interesting one if James followed his advice.


	2. Chapter 2

It was only the third week in of September but Lily was already beginning to notice that James was making more of an effort into his education. He was yet to get his first detention of the year and Lily was shocked that on one occasion that she had no choice but to sit next to James, she had noticed that McGonagall had graded his two and a half page essay with and Exceeds Expectations, better than the Acceptables that he had gotten during fifth year. She had even learned that James had gotten Acceptables, Exceeds Expectations in Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts and Outstanding in Charms, she didn't understand how he could have managed it what with all the pranks he did and detentions he had to attend.

James had even been made Quidditch Captain but wouldn't have to hold tryouts for the team until next year when the seeker and two chasers graduated from Hogwarts. But even though James was putting an effort in, Lily wasn't going to fall for it. She was still angry with him when she had to stop him from bullying Severus last June after their exam.

As September drew to a close, it was evident that Autumn was at Hogwarts. The leaves were falling off the trees and turned to a deep shade of red or a light shade of brown, turning crispy as they fell to the ground and trodden on by students. Filch was growing annoyed, having spent three hours on afternoon sweeping the courtyard and piled all the leaves into a neat pile in the corner, some fifth year boys in Slytherin kicked them and threw them at each other, causing the caretaker to curse at them angrily.

During the first week of October, Lily noted that James had been four weeks free of detention; a record for him. His homework up to good standard and was often seen sat in the corner of the common room whispering quietly to the three boys, with Remus looking under the weather. Of course, Lily knew why but had kept it to herself. Snape had often revealed his theory that Remus was a werewolf and she had discovered that his inability to do patrols with her once a month, she checked them against the chart of when the full moon would occur. Lily quietly spoke to Remus late one night in the common room using the muffialato charm and he confirmed that he was indeed a werewolf. Lily promised to protect his secret and she remained his friend, she thought no less of him but felt for him having suffered for so long in silence and had guessed that Remus had shared it with only his three best friends.

But one thing was certain, James still crept out at night but she wasn't sure how he managed it without being caught. It was common that the caretaker would be screaming about his hair being turned neon green whilst he slept but had no proof when he pointed the finger at James. It provided the school with laughter over breakfast for they knew it could have only been a certain four boys who called themselves the marauders.

One night, Lily was up walking up to the common room after dinner when she walked past a passageway hidden behind a tapestry. She stopped when she heard two familiar voices gossiping.

"I thought she had better taste."

"Sorry Pads, I know how much you like her."

"Oh shit Prongs, wipe it now!"

"Mischief managed."

Lily swept back the tapestry and saw Sirius and James stood there, looking over a blank piece of parchment. She raised an eyebrow suspiciously and the two boys smiled at her casually.

"There's our favourite prefect." Sirius smiled.

"What are you two up to?"

"Nothing." they both chorused.

Lily grabbed the parchment and examined it closer, why on earth would they concentrate so hard on a bit of old parchment?

"What is this?" she questioned.

"Nothing." Sirius replied.

"Black go to the common room, I want to talk to Potter alone."

Sirius made his escape quickly, leaving James to gulp when he met the angry stare that Lily reserved for him alone.

"Potter, you will tell me what this is or I'll give you a week's worth of detention."

"Come on Evans, I haven't done anything!"

"Spill Potter. You've got thirty seconds before I go to McGonagall and tell her you're up to your old tricks again."

James sighed and snatched the parchment from her, "You can't say anything if I show you. Promise?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, "I will if it's dark."

"It's not dark." James insisted.

She hesitated, "Fine, just get it over with."

James tapped his wand to the centre of the parchment, "I solemly swear that I am up to no good." he said quietly.

Lily's eyes widened as she watched ink spread across the page and form into what looked like a map of the castle, with the title 'The Marauder's Map." in the centre of it. James let her examine it closer before wiping the map clean. She looked at him in amazement, wondering if he had created it.

"That's a map of Hogwarts." she whispered.

James nodded and placed it in his bag, "Me and the boys created it last year."

"How?"

"A lot of time and effort and charm work."

"That's truly amazing, no wonder you got an Outstanding in your Charm OWL if you can create a magical map of the castle."

"You musn't tell anyone Evans, the boys would skin me alive."

Lily hesitated for a few minutes, she should really inform Professor McGonagall about the map but it was an amazing piece of magic. It was now evident that James was a hard worker, having put a lot of time and effort into learning the school's structure to create a map with his best friends and it wasn't really any of her business what it was used for; after all some of their pranks had made her laugh, especially turning Filch's hair green as he slept. Although, she wasn't going to admit to that.

"Alright Potter, secret's safe with me."

"So you're not going to rat me out?"

Lily shook her head, "It's impressive that you can spend some time putting some hard work into something that clearly means a lot to you. Who am I to take it away from you? Besides it's nice to know you can concentrate on working on something instead of hexing innocent students."

James smiled slightly but noticed that the incident with Snape last June was still fresh in her mind. On the train Remus had also advised him that he relax around her a little, maybe bug other girls instead of her as well as to show her he could not hex people for his own amusement. He hoped that her admission into his working on the map as 'impressive' was a start for them getting somewhere.

"Thanks Evans, means a lot."

Lily turned and walked out of the passageway, noting mentally that James hadn't asked her out once since they had returned to school. He had given her the occasional smirk and he still messed up his hair if their eyes met but not once had he stalked her and waited for her outside the girl's bathroom, maybe he was starting to leave her alone; one could only hope after all.

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**A/N: So please let me know what you thought, as I've said before the reviews keep me inspired to update sooner :)**


	3. Chapter 3

The first match of the season was Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff and James kept beating himself up because Hufflepuff was in the lead and Gryffindor managed to catch the snitch, but ending up tying with Hufflepuff on points. The common room wasn't really in the celebrating mood and James was sat in the corner by a window, drinking a butterbeer whilst watching the sunset. Lily picked herself up a butterbeer and sat opposite him, causing him to feel surprised that she would; but she wanted to cheer him up, for some reason she didn't want to see James upset and wanted to cheer him up.

"Hey." Lily said awkwardly.

"Evans, what are you doing?"

"You know there's more to life than tying in a Quidditch match."

"It's not that I'm disappointed about, it's the people seeing me as a rubbish captain."

"Who thinks that?"

"Everyone. To do better I'm going to have to change my training tactics."

"Would you like some help?"

James blinked in surprise, "You're offering to help me?" he asked, taking a swig of his butterbeer.

Lily nodded, "If it cheers you up."

James looked around and noticed that many people were heading down to the Great Hall for dinner, something which he didn't really feel like doing. The boys had left him alone, having known that he would come out of his sulkiness and disappointment in his own time. He told Lily to wait for him in the common room as he[ rushed up the staircase to the boy's dormitory. He wasn't in the mood to sit through dinner and have the whole house throw filthy looks his way because they hadn't beat Hufflepuff in the match, instead he was going to do one of this favourite things and wanted Lily to join him; aside from the boys she was the only one who hadn't said or thought that he was a rubbish captain.

Grabbing the invisibility cloak out of his trunk, he folded it over his arm and headed back down to the common room; seeing that Lily was still sat at the window waiting for him.

Lily smiled when he reached her, "So what do you want to do?"

James unfolded the cloak and threw it over them as they stood in the now empty common room. Lily looked at him with a non amused expression as she felt he was invading her personal space.

"Relax Evans, it's an invisibility cloak." James whispered.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "A proper one? Where did you get it?"

"My dad gave it to me when I started Hogwarts."

The two left the common room, with The Fat Lady getting annoyed when she saw nobody exit. Lily smiled to herself when she realised that this and the map that James had created with the others was how he got away with the majority of his pranks. There were students still walking down to dinner as they walked down the various staircases in the castle but Lily frowned at James when he diverted them down one of the corridors that led off the entrance hall instead of heading into the Great Hall for dinner.

James took the cloak off them and they stood before a portrait of a bowl of fruit. Lily watched impressively as James tickled the pear and the portrait revealed a space in the wall. The two climbed through it and Lily was amazed to realise that she stood in the school kitchens. She was too busy admiring what the kitchens looked like that she jumped out of her skin when she saw that three house elves were looking up at them.

"Missus, Mister, what can Inky get for you?" squeaked one house elf.

James turned to Lily, "What do you fancy Evans?"

"You don't want to eat with the rest of the house?"

He shook his head, "Not tonight. You're the only other person who doesn't hate my guts right now for what happened at the match."

"No I just hate your guts." Lily joked.

"Come on, you like me a tiny bit don't you?"

She rolled her eyes, "You're growing on me Potter."

"So what do you fancy? The house elves will get you anything you want."

Lily thought over what she would like, knowing that it was spaghetti and meatballs on the menu tonight and she was stood in the kitchen where she could request whatever she wanted to eat.

"Jacket potato with cheese please." Lily said politely.

The house elf nodded and she sat at one of the tables, knowing that the entire school were sitting directly above her. James requested the same as Lily and sat opposite her, wondering if she was going to rat him out to McGonagall.

"So, what do you think?"

Lily smiled as the house elf placed their food in front of them and she picked up a knife and fork to begin cutting into the potato.

"I think that you are full of surprises Potter."

"That I am." James agreed before taking his first bite out of the jacket potato.

"Well let's just say that I'm beginning to think of you less of a bully and arrogant show-off."

"You know how to compliment someone don't you?" James teased amusingly.

"I'm being serious Potter. Your grades are up, you've had what two detentions since we've been back? and you've shown me how good you are at charms as well as how you get away with your pranks. I shouldn't say it, but I'm a little impressed by this new you." Lily admitted, taking her fourth bite out of her food.

"Thanks Evans and it's actually three detentions."

"So the first was for backchatting to Slughorn. The second was for trailing mud into the entrance hall after practice and Filch had just cleaned the floor, so what was the third for?"

James grinned, "Revenge on Filch for giving me the second detention you mentioned."

"What did you do?"

"I locked Mrs Norris into a vanishing cabinet."

Lily dropped her fork and bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"You didn't?" she asked, torn between her mortification of James's act and the laughter she was trying to surpress at finding the notion of Filch's cat being floated between two vanishing cabinets.

James nodded as he finished off his jacket potato and asked the house elves for a goblet of pumpkin juice, "I did, with the help of Sirius. The cabinet didn't connect to the other, it's broken so it took McGonagall, Filch and Dumbledore a lot of work to get the cat out of it. It spent two weeks with Hagrid and Dumbledore gave us both detention and forbade us from letting it spread around the school."

Lily breathed in deeply for a few minutes as she tried to calm herself down and tried to stop finding James's little tale so amusing. It didn't impress her but every student in the castle hated Filch since he took over the post of caretaker in 1973, he was always finding excuses to give students detention and his bloody cat watched everyone like a hawk; so for that reason it felt natural to find James's little prank on the cat amusing.

The two had finished eating and thanked the house elves for the food before leaving the kitchen. James and Lily climbed the staircases and to the library where Lily said she knew there were books in there about Quidditch training and wanted to show them to him if it would help him as the captain of the team. James, who usually hated the library due to having a bad relationship with Madam Pince he had built up over the years, willingly followed the redhead into the library and listened to Lily as she began to talk him through some of the books she had pulled off the shelves. He knew he was trying to change into a better person and he could sense she was to for since they had been back at school, she would never have helped him with anything; and he hoped that given time, she may even return the feelings he had for her.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I updated, I've had a very busy time lately. For those of you who had been following Halloween, I've deleted it until further notice as I've been less inspired with it lately but it has been saved to my computer and will be re-published at a later date when all chapters are completed.**

**Please let me know what you think of this story. **

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Snow covered the grounds earlier than normal as October turned into a chilly November, it seemed that winter would be early this year. Lily woke up one morning at the start of November to see the majority of students in Gryffindor gathered around the notice board, reading the freshly pinned notice with dates of Hogsmeade visits until the end of term. Marlene smiled as she made her way to Lily, both exiting the common room to go down to breakfast.

"Next visit to the village is next weekend, want to go?" Marlene asked.

Lily nodded, "Of course, I may as well try and get my shopping done early." Lily replied.

"Has Mary told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

Marlene looked around as they continued to walk down the various staircases, making sure that nobody would eavesdrop, "Remus has asked Mary out on a date." she whispered excitedly.

"Awwh they'd make such a cute couple." Lily gushed.

"I know!"

They entered the Great Hall and sat at the centre of the long table, helping themselves to food and drink when they were joined by Sirius and James. Marlene threw a filthy look at Sirius before helping herself to some bacon.

"How are the two most lovely ladies in the school this morning?" Sirius grinned, offering Marlene the last piece of bacon.

Marlene frowned but picked up the bacon with her fork and put it on her plate, "We're good Black but that doesn't mean I'll sleep with you."

"Immediately assume my intentions are that don't you McKinnon?"

"Oh sweetie, boys like you never change."

"And you still think of me as a boy? Baby.." Sirius flexed one of his arms, "I'm all man!"

Marlene snorted as she cut up her bacon and sausages, "Pettigrew is more man than you!"

"Anyway.." James interrupted, "We assume you both know about Remus and Mary?"

"We do." Lily nodded as she took another bite out of her toast.

"Seeing as they are going to the village and they're both going to be nervous, how about we we go for a drink in The Three Broomsticks? For moral support?" Sirius suggested.

"I suppose I could try and be friends with you for a day Black."

Sirius grinned, "Marley baby, you're finally going to the village with me. I'm hoping that this will be the start of something beautiful."

"As friends and nothing more." Marlene stated with a sour look.

Lily smirked, knowing full well that her best friend had some level of feeling for Sirius Black; no matter how many times Marlene insisted that she hated Sirius, Lily had once or twice caught her blonde haired friend looking at Sirius at dinner. Of course, she knew Marlene was currently seeing a sixth year Ravenclaw boy named Ryan Fletcher, a boy she knew that Marlene preferred. Ryan got on with most people and his detention count was severely lower than that of Sirius Black and that was all Lily really knew about Ryan.

"It should be very interesting." Sirius mused.

The four ate their breakfast in silence before the bell rang for classes to start. As they made their way to Transfiguration, Lily began to think of what next weekend would be like. She was actually going to the village with James Potter, as friends. It seemed to be weird that they were friends now, she could sit with him in classes or at mealtimes or in the common room and not wish that she was sitting with someone else. James made her laugh, they could have conversations about things that she had never thought she would discuss with James Potter. She told him a little more about herself, how she liked to read classic books by muggle authors such as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens or Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, she was surprised to learn that James had heard of Jane Austen and had read Sense and Sensibility. Lily had even leant James her copy of A Christmas Carol after James asked to borrow it.

As the week went on, Lily didn't realise how quickly it had passed until she woke up on Saturday morning. Mary was fussing over what to wear on her date with Remus so Lily, Alice and Marlene went through all her clothes that Mary had until they chose out a red day dress with long sleeves that fell to Mary's knees with black tights and shoes. Alice curled Mary's hair using her wand whilst Marlene applied Mary's makeup. When the girls were done, they admired Mary, her curled hair clipped back so that it fell elegantly over the left shoulder and the dress that Lily knew she'd never be able to get away with if it had been her who was wearing it.

They left the castle after breakfast, leaving Mary alone with Remus. Alice went off on a date with a Hufflepuff sixth year named Frank Longbottom, leaving Lily and Marlene to feel surprised that their best friend had managed to keep her own date quiet and help Mary out with her date. Lily stated that Alice was the type of person who put others first and not talk about her own things she looked forward to. Shrugging it off and deciding to be happy for Alice, Marlene dragged Lily into Honeydukes, already full of students who stood shoulder to shoulder looking at the various products that the sweet shop sold, all of them also waiting for the blizzard to stop that was happening outside.

Satisfied with their shopping at Honeydukes and couldn't decide where else to go due to the snowstorm, Lily and Marlene made their way to The Three Broomsticks; wanting a butterbeer to warm them up a little. Shielding their faces from the snow and cold wind, they slowly hauled themselves towards the popular pub, until they were hit in the face with a snowball; knocking the hoods down of their winter cloaks.

Stopping before them, Lily rolled her eyes when she saw it had been James and Sirius who had thrown the snowballs at them.

"Merlin's sake Black, what is wrong with you?" Marlene shrieked, punching Sirius on the arm as hard as she could.

"Relax Marley, you need to have some fun every now and again." Sirius replied.

The four made their way into the pub, with Lily chucking some money at Marlene to get her a butterbeer. Sirius grinned as Marlene rolled her eyes as the two made their way up to the crowded bar. Lily scanned the crowd and yelled in shock as she felt James grasp her wrist and pulled her towards an empty booth, near to where she saw Remus and Mary sitting.

"So, how was your shopping?" James asked, sitting in the booth.

Lily slid up next to him, placing her bags under the table.

"Okay I guess, just did Honeydukes for now."

"Christmas shopping I take it?"

She nodded, "Yes but I need to hit muggle London when I go back so I can do Christmas shopping for my mum and sister."

"They don't like wizarding stuff?"

"My mum loves it but Petunia isn't a fan of our world."

"Why not?"

Lily met his hazel eyes, noticing for the first time how genuine he looked. He wanted to know more about her, his eyes told her that he wanted to be a friend to her and she couldn't stop herself from telling him about what had happened when she got her acceptance letter all those years ago.

"Oh Lily, you shouldn't pay any attention to her."

"She's my sister besides I avoid her as much as I can when I'm home."

"Your sister is just jealous."

"Jealous of what? The redheaded freak?"

James nodded, "For starters, she's jealous of the fact that you're the one who is extraordinary and she's not. Calling you a freak makes her feel better about herself and just because you're redheaded doesn't make you more of a freak Lily, I happen to like your hair colour. It reminds me of a summer sunset and I happen to like summer." he replied.

Lily blushed slightly, this was the first time he had paid her a compliment where he hadn't been acting like a prat.

"Thank you."

James smiled, "You're welcome."

Marlene and Sirius returned to the table, handing over the butterbeers just as all four turned their heads in the direction of the table where Remus was sitting with Mary. They all watched as their friends slowly started kissing and the girls gushed about how sweet they looked. James looked away and took a swig of his butterbeer; hoping that one day, no matter how long it took, that he would be sat with Lily at their own table, sharing a kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

November soon turned into December and the snow was coming on a daily basis. Herbology classes had been cancelled, along with Care of Magical Creatures due to the knee deep snow that covered the grounds. The weather reports on the wireless confirmed that it was the worst winter that Hogsmeade and Hogwarts had ever seen. Although the snowstorms were horrible, when they stopped they left a blanket of snow covering the whole castle and it was on one morning when Lily took a walk in the grounds that she saw a baby unicorn emerge from the forest, something which she had never seen during her six years at Hogwarts.

Hagrid had also been seen cutting down the Christmas trees that were decorated by Flitwick in the Great Hall, with garlands of holly decorating the bannisters of the marble staircase and ever lasting lit candles were placed inside the various suits of armour throughout the castle, giving Hogwarts the Christmassy feeling that Lily loved so much. Christmas at Hogwarts was like a parallel world, the tall trees, the ghosts singing, the food, the decorations; it made Lily feel like she was dreaming a dream that she never wanted to wake from. Christmas at home hadn't been the same since her second year, her father had been killed in a car accident shortly before Christmas that year and every since the atmosphere had changed for good. Her mother's Christmas dinner still tasted as heavenly as ever but Petunia's sulking had changed into even more hatred for Lily. This year, Lily had decided to stay at school with Marlene and Alice, not wanting to experience another year of awkwardness at home.

It was the day before the end of term and most students had already packed their stuff for the journey back to London the next day. Lily found herself leaving Arithmancy on that Thursday afternoon to go to the library to make a start on her homework so that her holidays weren't completely taken up with her schoolwork. Walking up the stairs and watching the staircases switch, she found herself meeting James Potter in the third floor corridor as she made her way towards the library.

"Afternoon Potter." Lily greeted.

James smiled, "Still on a last name basis are we Evans?"

Lily shrugged, "It's just what I'm used to." she admitted.

"I suppose I agree but feel free to use my forename from time to time Lily."

"I'll bear that in mind. What are you up to?"

"I need to finish McGongall's essay on conjuring spells, it's due in the first Friday back of term, which happens to be the first day back from the holidays." James groaned.

"I don't find McGonagall's lessons that bad."

"Neither do I but it's not the lesson I'd choose for first period on the first day back." James grumbled.

The two headed towards the library, noting that the sun outside was shining rather weakly through the windows and the candles that luminated the corridor they walked in were rather dimly lit. Lily waved her wand at one of the torches, making the flames shine brighter and then did the same to the rest as they reached the door to the library.

"Good thinking." James muttered, liking that the corridor wasn't so gloomy now that Lily had made it a little brighter.

Lily smiled and entered the library, with James following her and exchanging a small glance with the librarian. Sitting at one of the aging oak tables, Lily pulled out her half finished essay for Charms. She opened her textbook and started to read through and out of the corner of her eyes she saw that James was already writing his essay for Transfiguration.

"I'm surprised that you've already written half of it." Lily said quietly, dipping her quill into her ink pot and placing the quill back to the parchment.

James looked up at her through his rounded glasses and smirked slightly, "Still think I'm the immature bad boy Evans?" he whispered back.

"We're friends Potter, something's happened for me to see that you aren't as bad as you used to be."

James smiled at her before turning his attention back to his homework scroll, he liked the fact that Lily considered him as a friend now. They talked a lot more, they sat together in the common room, at dinner and on a few more occasions had snuck back into the kitchens just her and him, he liked that Lily could see the caring person he was, that she could see underneath all the immaturity.

The peaceful silence in the library was soon disturbed by a shrieking Madam Pince and the screaming of younger students who darted as quickly as the could for the library door. Peeves, the school's havoc causing poltergeist, had taken a paper aeroplane and lit it on fire. The librarian tried countless times to exstinguish the flames but failed, due to peeves continuing to hold onto the paper aeroplane and glide through the air with it, dangling it above the heads of students running beneath him.

"THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS, THIS IS A LIBRARY." Madam Pince screamed, as she yet again tried to cast a jet of water at the poltergeist.

Peeves cackled loudly, "Pincey Wincey so uptight, one day soon will die of fright!"

Lily and James quickly packed up their belongings and rushed out of the library, heading straight to the first floor to catch Professor McGonagall in her office. Bursting into the room without knocking, the Deputy Head didn't look impressed at the sudden intrusion of her privacy.

"Potter, Evans. Next time knock before you decide to burst into-"

"Professor.." James panted.."Peeves, havoc, the library."

Professor McGonagall left her office faster than Lily had ever seen her Head of House leave a room before. She and James stood in the doorway of McGonagall's office, trying to catch their breath from sprinting down two floors to get the teacher.

"Listen Lily, are you going home for the holidays?" James asked, once his breathing was back at a normal rate.

Lily shook her head, "I'm staying at the castle this year, fancied a change."

James smiled, "I'm heading home for the holidays but considering that so far we've been on good terms this year, I bought you a Christmas present."

Lily's eyes widened in surprise as James went through his school bag and pulled out a perfectly wrapped medium sized box. James handed it to her and for a moment she didn't know whether to take it, this was the last thing that she was expecting.

"Thank you, but I didn't get you anything." Lily mumbled, taking the present and inspecting it.

James laughed a little, "It isn't a prank or anything like that. Just promise me that you won't open it until Christmas day."

Lily's eyes met his and for a moment, neither said anything. Those eyes of his, deep pools of hazel that she could understand why a girl would get hooked on him if they looked him in the eye for too long and found themselves getting pulled in deeper by a strong current. Lily placed the present carefully in her bag and returned his smile, still surprised that he had gone to the effort to buy her a gift and grateful that he had thought of doing so.

"Thanks, I promise I won't open it before Christmas day."

"You're welcome." James replied softly.

After thirty seconds of awkward silence, the bell rang for the next lesson and Lily sighed heavily. She wasn't in the mood for Potions, having to spend the lesson with the majority of the sixth year Slytherins.

"Time for Potions." James said, with a tone of dread.

The two started to moved from Professor McGonagall's office, making their way down to the entrance hall and crossing to the corridor that would lead down to the dungeons. As they joined the queue for the Professor Slughorn's classroom, Lily still felt touched by James's gesture and although happy that he had been so thoughtful, she couldn't help but wonder what James had bought her for her Christmas gift.


	6. Chapter 6

James was rather glad to step foot inside the warmth within the castle after having to walk through a mini snowstorm. He walked through the entrance hall, dragging his trunk behind him and as he met Sirius at the bottom of the marble staircase.

"Where did you get to? Didn't get the chance to catch up properly on the train Padfoot." James said, clapping his best friend on the back.

Sirius had a pure look of loathing on his face as both of them heard the front doors to the castle open and the gang of Slytherins stepped in. Sirius exchanged a dark look with his little brother Regulus before turning back to James.

"Had a pretty bad row with the old hag over the holidays, Uncle Cygnus backed her up as usual when she screamed how much of a disappointment I am to the family. The usual 'You filthy Gryffindor fraternising with mudbloods.' and so I left." Sirius explained.

"Why didn't you come to mine? My parents wouldn't mind!"

"I stayed with Andromeda for a few days."

"I'll write to my mum and dad, you can move in with us. They won't mind, they see you lot like extra sons anyway." James said.

"Cheers Prongs."

Before they could make their way to the common room Snape, Avery, Mulciber and Regulus were standing in front of them. Sirius glared at his younger brother with Regulus doing the same back at him but neither spoke, both not wanting to talk now that Sirius had turned his back on his family.

"I heard Mummy kicked you out Black." Snape sneered.

"Did little Reggie tell you that?" Sirius cooed mockingly.

"I guess she finally realised that her eldest son was a scumbag who runs around with blood traitors and mudbloods." Mulciber spat.

"Or maybe he was switched at birth? He's actually the spawn of a mudblood and Mummy realised the mistake, after all every Black has been in Slytherin for generations, you were the let down weren't you Black? Not good enough for anyone, not even the McKinnon girl you flirt with." Snape taunted.

Sirius withdrew his wand from his pocket, pointing it at Snape's throat and Regulus rushed off down to the dungeons. Mulciber and Avery withdrew their wands at the same time as Snape, all four looking at each other with muderous looks on their faces. James sighed and pulled his friend's hand away from Snape, not wanting to earn him and his best friend a detention before classes started up again the next day.

"Since when are you a coward Black?" Snape sneered.

"Leave it Snivellus, why don't you head back into Hogsmeade and get a thing you seem to be unfamiliar with? It's called shampoo." James said bitterly.

"Or better yet run back to the gutter where you belong!" Sirius growled, trying to raise his wand back up but James's strong grip on his arm denied him from doing so.

"You know McKinnon needs a real man. Why don't I go and find her and drag her off to show her what pureblood really is like?" Mulciber cackled, lowering his wand and entering the Great Hall.

"Leave her alone you piece of dragon dung!"

"Or better yet, why don't all three of us show her a good time? What say you Snape?"

Snape smiled darkly, "Well Black you won't want her after she's been with a Slytherin would you?"

James knew what was coming next and wrapped his arms around Sirius's torso from behind to prevent his best friend from launching at Snape. Every student that had been in the entrance hall had stopped what they were doing and were now watching the three of them as Avery cackled and went into the Great Hall to join Mulciber.

Snape laughed, "Have to have your best friend stop you? How noble Black."

Sirius swore at Snape and only when he stopped struggling as much as he was, did James release him.

"Go to the common room Pads, calm down." James said quietly.

"He's a piece of shit and I want to kill him!" Sirius yelled.

"Just go!"

Sirius sprinted up the staircase with his trunk, leaving James alone with Snape and everyone watching them cautiously.

"Just you and me Potter? I feel so lucky!" Snape said sarcastically, wand still raised and pointing at James's chest.

"I don't get it, we did nothing to provoke you."

"Well let's call it revenge for all the times you did."

James laughed slightly, still refusing to stoop to Snape's level and get his wand out. He didn't want to fight with Snape, not today anyway. He wanted to talk to Sirius and calm his best friend down and catch up with Remus and Peter and even Lily if he got the chance to. Usually he would have hexed Snape into a state of needing a trip to the hospital wing but he remembered Remus's advice at the start of the year, he wanted Lily to see him as a better person and hexing Snape would just make her revert back to the bully she had seen him as for the past five years. All the progress he had made with her so far would be thrown out the window if he stooped to Snape's level.

Shaking his head and picking up his trunk, he faced Snape for the last time and said, "You're pathetic Snivellus." and made his way up the grand staircase.

"New man eh Potter? We all know it's an act. And you know something else? It won't impress anyone who you're trying to better yourself for!" Snape called.

James ignored him and once he turned the corner, he could hear the outbursts of murmuring about the incident that had just occurred. He didn't care right now, let the damned students gossip. All he cared about right now is unpacking his trunk and talking to the boys. The portraits were passing on the gossip as well, having learned what James had been about for the first five years of his education that they were all surprised that he hadn't lay one curse on Snape.

Just as he turned down the corridor that led to the Gryffindor common room, he heard a familiar voice call his name. He turned and smiled when he saw his favourite redheaded girl walking towards him.

"Lily, how was your Christmas?" James asked.

"Nice and quiet, yours?"

"Same, no siblings so just me and my parents. My mum's turkey is to die for!"

Lily smiled at him and James's gaze went to the single emerald encased in a gold shell that hung around her neck. He had picked it out at a new jewellery shop that had opened in Hogsmeade in November, noting that it reminded him of Lily and thought it would suit her. James met her eyes once more, returning her warm smile.

"Thank you for the necklace, I love it."

"I gathered you did because you're wearing it." James muttered bitterly, still in a bad mood.

"You know a simply 'you're welcome' would have done."

"Someone's in a snappy mood."

"Potter!"

"Sorry, you're welcome Lily. I'm glad you liked it."

"Look, I saw what happened with Severus."

"Still Severus then?"

Lily blinked and the smile she had worn had faded, "James, he was my friend. I can't just go from calling him from his forename to his last name so quickly, as much as I hate the path he's chosen, he was once my best friend."

"I'm sorry Lily but I didn't start it. He started on Sirius and I chose not to stoop to his level, I just want to make sure my best mate is okay. He's had a pretty tough holiday."

"Does he have a thing for Marlene? Is that why he got so angry before he left and you restrained him?"

James exhaled heavily andf nodded, "He does but don't say I told you and don't tell her. He flirts with her in hopes of getting somewhere but he doesn't want her to know that he has those types of feelings."

"Why?" Lily questioned.

"Because Sirius is the type of bloke who will get defensive and deny it. He doesn't want to open up to anyone because he had a tough childhood coming from a family who think lovely emotions make you weak. Like you show one sign of happiness or love in public, you're letting the whole world know your weakness. He's always disagreed with his mum and she's always made him feel shit about himself."

"That's harsh!"

"Just don't say anything Lily."

"I promise."

There was a few minutes of silence as they continued to stand alone in the corridor, with the only sound being the whistling of the harsh winds outside the castle blowing against the windows, making them rattle violently.

"James?"

"Yes Lily?"

"That's was really mature of you, not retaliating to Snape. You could have hexed him badly and you didn't."

James's jaw could have hit the floor, he had never expected Lily Evans to admit to him that she found something he did as 'mature'. He felt himself roar with pride inside and his stomach do blackflips in joy that the girl he liked more than anything, found him mature.

"Thanks I guess."

Lily looked at him suspiciously and gave a small smile, "I don't know what's happened to you Potter but you must have done a lot of thinking last summer. Whatever you're doing, don't stop. I like this new you."

And then she walked in the direction of the common room, leaving James standing as if glued to the spot. He felt numbed with shock or surprise, he didn't know how to describe it but having Lily admit that she liked the person he was becoming, the boy with fewer detentions than the year before, the boy with good grades and staying up, the boy who didn't fight back with his fists or his wand, was something he thought he would never hear from her lips.


	7. Chapter 7

January soon turned into February, with the snow melting and the leaves beginning to grow back on the trees. The mornings were still cold and the blustery wind still managed to rattle the windows and creep through the cracks in the walls to make students wrap their cloaks around them even tighter. The first weekend in February, James walked into the Quidditch changing rooms, feeling triumphant. He had just won the match against match against Ravenclaw. Placing his broomstick against the bench, he picked up a towel from his locker and wiped the sweat off his face.

"Oi Potter, you've got a visitor." one of his team mates called.

James turned to see a girl from Ravenclaw had entered the tent, he smiled politely at her; wondering who she was. The girl was rather pretty, shoulder length blonde hair that had been straightened. High cheekbones with a wide smile and bright blue eyes. She wore some muggle make up to enhance her natural looks further, he started to think of why she wanted to talk to him, whatever she did want to discuss; it had nothing to do with Ravenclaw losing the match due to the nervous smile on her face.

"Hi, I'm James." he said politely.

The girl giggled, "I know, I really admire your flying." she replied quietly, blushing a light red.

"Thank you."

"My name is Marie Clarence." the girl said next, twiddling her thumbs and looking past James to the wall of the tent.

"Pretty name, is it French?" James asked.

Marie nodded, "I'm half french." she replied.

"So, what can I help you with?"

She smiled awkwardly, "I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend? For a coffee? I'd like to get to know you a little better." she asked, the light shade of red on her cheeks now darkening and her blue eyes darting to the floor.

James grinned, his ego boosting as he ran his hand through his hair. It felt good for a girl to come up to him and directly ask him out, he had gotten used to notes being passed to him in classes and in corridors by girls who had signed their names at the bottom; too scared or nervous to ask him out. This girl had guts, and he instantly liked that about her.

"Sure, next Saturday? I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eleven o'clock?" James suggested.

The girl's smile went wider and the look in her eyes changed from nervous to excited. "That's great, thank you! I'll see you then." Marie squealed and left the changing room rather quickly.

James couldn't help but smile too and he exited the changing rooms, meeting his friends outside the tent. Sirius eyed him suspiciously as Peter looked at the pretty blonde who had left only seconds before.

"You're in a good mood!" Remus observed.

"We won the match!" James grinned.

"It's more than that. I think that pretty blonde girl is the reason why you're so happy." Sirius teased.

"Maybe, we're going out on Saturday." James replied, as all four made their way back to the castle.

"Like a date?" Peter asked.

James stopped in his tracks, was it a date? It didn't seem like a date or maybe her asking him to go for a coffee was a date. Girls were so confusing at times.

"I don't think it is."

"But she asked you out? She wouldn't do that if she didn't know you and just wanted to be friends." Sirius stated.

"And you have so much experience?" James threw back, in a jokey tone.

Sirius shook his head, "Just saying Prongs that you've been hooked on one girl forever so you wouldn't know."

"Sirius is right." Remus chipped in, "It seems like a date to me."

"What about when you asked Mary out?" James asked, pushing the front door to the castle open and the four entered the entrance hall.

"Different because we were friends first." Remus answered.

"Well I guess we'll see won't we?"

They made their way to the common room with James hitting the shower as the other boys sat in front of the fireplace. Sirius had gone to the owlery earlier to have Remus send a note from his 'mum' saying that he had to come home because she was 'sick', this was their cover for his disappearance once a month. Everyone else didn't seem to suspect, having assumed that his mum had a long term illness and once a month Remus visited her because she may not have much time left.

That night, Remus left the common room; everyone else in the common room retired for bed, just like James, Peter and Remus did. The fifth bed in their dormitory had been empty for a while, having lost their dorm-mate Oliver Smith when his parents had been killed by Death Eaters last year.

"Everyone is in bed." Peter confirmed, watching as James pulled his cloak out of the trunk.

"Come on, it's already dark and we need to go." James whispered, as the three left the room.

As they passed the other dormitories, they could hear the light snoring of the boys who slept within; making them glad that everyone was asleep. When they had first accomplished becoming illegal animagi, they had found the task rather difficult if one person had decided to stay up in the common room so they had gotten into the habit of putting the cloak on in their dormitory. But this also proved a challenge on having to pass students on the narrow winding staircase who were going to their own bed and the boys had to be careful not to nudge into passing students as they made their way down the staircase. So on the occasion where the common room was empty, they put the cloak on in there.

Once in the common room, with the fire burning out and giving the room a dimly lit spooky look, Sirius pulled the map out of his pocket. Just as he put the tip of his wand to the parchment that they heard someone moving from behind them. The three of them turned around and theirs beat faster in their chests when they saw it was Lily who was standing in front of them.

"Where do you three think you're going?" Lily asked, in a stern tone.

"Nowhere." The three chorused.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "Really looks like it."

"What are you doing down here?" Peter questioned.

"Homework Pettigrew, not that it's any of your business."

"Well it's none of your business what we're up to!" Sirius pointed out.

"It is my business Black as I'm prefect."

James sighed heavily and chucked the cloak to Peter, "Guys wait outside for me, I'll sort this."

Sirius and Peter wrapped the cloak around them and stepped out of the portrait hole, leaving Lily and James alone in the common room with Lily's facial expression demanding an explanation. James knew that Lily had found out Remus's secret, the only other person to do so and knew she could keep a secret. James cast the muffliato spell and waved his wand to move the furniture out of the way.

"What's going on?" Lily asked, slightly confused as chairs moved out of the way to give him some space.

"You know about Remus don't you?"

Lily nodded, "Yeah he told me, so why are you three sneaking out?"

"If I show you, promise you won't tell anyone."

She sighed and nodded her agreement and watched as James closed his eyes in concentration. It shocked as he began to transform, growing antlers and forming another pair of legs, his green eyes staring warmly back at her as she realised that a stag stood where he had been a few moments ago. It took a few moments it to hit her that James was an animagi. No wonder he was so good at Transfiguration.

James transformed back, eyes desperate for her to say something; anything. He hoped that having shown her his animagi form hadn't been a mistake, she was in shock he definitely knew that much. Waving his wand, the furniture went back to it's normal place and Lily coughed to clear her throat.

"How long?" Lily questioned, tapping her foot lightly on the stone floor.

"We've been able to transform since last year." James answered, truthfully.

Lily nodded, beginning to pace up and down in a straight line.

"So you've been sneaking out for the past year to accompany Remus when he transforms?"

"I know it's dangerous but he suffers a lot less when we're with him in animal form. Remus is a lot calmer, he doesn't lash out as much and he doesn't injure himself as much any more." James explained.

"You did all that studying to help a friend suffer a little less?" Lily questioned, looking him in the eye.

"It took three years of advanced secret studying and we finally did it last year. Remus is like my brother, I wasn't about to cast him aside because of his affliction."

Lily smiled, "I won't tell anyone but just promise me you'll be careful?"

"Thank you Lily."

"There's more to you than what meets the eye Potter." Lily smiled, and went back to the corner to finish her homework, leaving James to exit the common room and use the invisibility cloak to get into the grounds.

* * *

The night went rather quick for James, running around the grounds with your three best friends in animal form worked up a sweat. For the first time since they had become animagi, Remus was at his calmest. James had watched his best friend cautiously throughout the night and Remus had not once tried to start a fight with Sirius in his dog form and nor did Remus scratch and bite himself as much as he used to. Running through the forbidden forest at night time was a thrill, even more thrilling then sneaking around at night under the cloak and pulling pranks on the caretaker.

It was dawn now, the bright red morning sun rising in the East and casting beams of weak light in every direction as the light hit the castle and it's surroundings. Peter, still in rat form, pressed the knot in the Whomping Willow so that it froze. All four were now back in human form and walked along the passage way to make sure that Remus would be found in the Shrieking Shack when Madam Pomfrey would come and collect him in a few minutes.

Remus looked shattered, dark black circles under his eyes and his skin yellowing slightly due to the toll his transformations took on him and the lack of sleep. As much as Remus, Peter and himself looked tired, they all knew that their tiredness was nothing in comparison to their best friends.

"We have to get back, sharp!" Sirius stated.

"Thank you, all of you." Remus said, gratefully.

"Moony, stop thanking us." Peter said, rolling his eyes and smiling.

"See you later." Remus bade in goodbye.

The three left the Whomping Willow and tucked themselves away in the cloak and opening the map to check which teachers were up already. Filch was asleep in his office, along with his wretched cat. McGongall was already in awake and pacing around her office and Dumbledore was seen walking towards the teacher's bathroom.

"Coast is clear." Sirius whispered.

As they walked past Hagrid's hut, Peter tugged on James's sleeve.

"What's up Wormtail?" James whispered.

They trod on various twigs as they walked uphill, making sure that they kept glancing back at the map to avoid getting caught. James looked down at Peter, gesturing to his friend that they talk now before they got back into the entrance hall.

"Is Lily going to tell Dumbledore about us?" Peter hissed, worriedly.

They stopped in their tracks, only a little way away from the front doors with both Sirius and Peter looking at James in concern because they had guessed that James had revealed their deepest secret to the prefect. James shook his head, giving his word to his best friends that Lily would not betray their secret and he knew his judgement about her was right. Lily was a good person and when it came to her seeing how much their secret and James's word that it made Remus a little better, she wouldn't say anything. He knew that Lily was the type of person who put other people's needs before her own, and that was one of the reasons he liked her.

* * *

James didn't understand why some girls gushed at how romantic Madam Puddifoot's was, in his opinion it made him rather uncomfortable; it was too fancy and pink. Couples were sat at the various small rounded tables kissing over the sugarbowls as they had heart shaped confetti thrown over their heads by magical cupids that hung gracefully over the tables. He had never gone out with a girl on Valentine's day before and when Marie walked in with her blonde hair curled into ringlets and a face full of make up with a knee length skirt and blouse, he was beginning to believe that the boys had been right in saying that it was a date. He found it hard to believe that a girl would take this much effort if it was just a 'meeting up for a coffee'.

"Hey Marie." James greeted, watching as she sat opposite him.

"Hi James."

The two smiled awkwardly at each other until a waitress came over and asked them what they were ordering. James ordered himself a latte and Marie ordered a cappucino which the waitress gave to them thirty seconds later. James thanked the waitress and turned his gaze back to Marie's curious blue eyes. He took a sip of his latte from the pink mug, wishing that they could have gone any where but here to meet up.

"How are you?" James asked, not knowing how to really start a conversation.

"Good thank you, a little nervous." Marie replied, taking a mouthful of her drink.

The quiet chatter around them became even more quiet and James noticed that practically all the couples were holding hands and kissing now, making him uncomfortable. If they had gone to The Three Broomsticks the atmosphere would have made him a little at ease because he'd be surrounded by crowds. The little tea shop was for couples and far too feminine for his taste.

"So, what year are you in?" James questioned, sitting back in his chair to attempt to get a little comfortable.

Marie placed her drink onto the table, looking directly at him with a small smile. Her eyes lighting up in delight that he was making the effort to get to know her a little better. The cupid that was floating above their heads sprinkled confetti over their table, with a light pink heart caught into the ringlets of Marie's hair. James leaned across the table and carefully picked the confetti out of Marie's hair, causing her to blush a light pink which added a natural colour to her cheeks.

"Thanks." Marie muttered, shyly.

"So, what year are you in?" James repeated, taking another mouthful of his coffee.

Marie slowly met his gaze, "I'm in fifth year so I'm a year younger than you. Is age a problem?" she asked, suddenly mortified that James wouldn't be interested in younger students.

James shook his head, "A year younger doesn't bother me. So um..." he cleared his throat, "Tell me a bit about yourself."

"Well I'm sixteen at Easter. I love butterbeers, chocolate cauldrons, sugar quills, Celestina Warbeck, The Holyhead Harpies-

"You like Quidditch?" James asked, smiling widely.

Marie nodded excitedly, "Who doesn't?!" she exclaimed.

"Most girls I know roll their eyes when Quidditch is mentioned." James laughed.

"The Harpies are the only team to have all women! Last season they did so well!" Marie said with a strong sense of pride.

"They are good but not as good as the Appleby Arrows!"

"Please? Have you seen their seeker?"

"Okay, Davis needs a little work but last season was only his first, give him some time." James said defensively.

"Alright I'll give him some time. You own a Nimbus right?" Marie asked, finishing her drink.

"Yes, latest model there is. Do you fly?" James asked, as he too finished his coffee.

"Sometimes, fifth year has been rather demanding of my time so I rarely get the chance. My parents bought me a Cleansweep last year." Marie replied.

"Well how about we take our brooms onto the pitch? Have you ever flown your broom on the pitch before?"

Marie shook her head, "No, only on the grounds." she sighed.

"Come on, let's go back to the castle and get our brooms. It'll be nice to see if you fly well." James suggested.

The two left the tea shop and talked more about Quidditch and James's hopes for the team in the next school year. They had to separate to go and get their brooms, due to being in different houses and when James stepped off the last step to enter the common room, broom over shoulder, he saw that Lily had returned from the village with Marlene and Alice.

"Hey Potter." Lily greeted, waving her friends goodbye as they disappeared up the girl's staircase.

"Evans. Nice trip?" James asked, eyeing up the various shopping bags.

"Was cool, I didn't see you with the boys." Lily noted.

"I had a date."

Lily's eyes widened in surprise and her eyebrows skidded upwards, "A date?" she asked, in a curious tone.

James nodded, "Yeah, very nice girl and she's into Quidditch so that's an added bonus." he replied, heart beating faster in his chest as to what her reaction would be.

"I'm glad then. Do you want to grab some dinner with me and Marlene?"

"Can't. Sorry Lily, I'm still technically on a date."

"With your broomstick?"

James nodded again, "We're going to the pitch for some practice." he replied.

"I guess I'll see you around then."

"See you around Lily."

James exited the common room through the portrait hole and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He liked Lily, so much but his day with Marie had turned out better than he had expected. Marie was gorgeous, a little shy but under the circumstances he guessed she'd open up a little later and she liked Quidditch. But best of all, Marie seemed interested with him and he couldn't lie and say that a part of him wasn't intrigued into seeing how something with Marie would go.


	8. Chapter 8

As Febraury came to a close and March began, the students of Hogwarts also noticed that Spring had arrived at the castle. James had been dating Marie for a whole month now and he found that he really liked her. Marie, once the shyness had gone, was a happy and funny girl who asked him to show her how he managed to steal the snitch to which he agreed and he did it without having to use the cloak. She loved his flying and joking nature and the two laughed together most of the time that they spent together but due to the upcoming examinations after the Easter holidays. It was just as the sun was setting one Friday evening and the two lovebirds were seen sitting in the grounds, not far from the castle doors.

"This is bliss." Marie gushed, enjoying the feeling of being in James's arms.

James placed a light kiss to her lips and smiled, liking the way her eyes lit up in excitement when they had some time alone together.

"It sure is, the past month has been amazing." he replied.

"Can you sneak out tonight?" Marie whispered, running her fingers through his messy hair.

"Sorry, I'm doing homework with Lily. McGonagall's signed us up to do Transfig homework together." James apologised.

Marie smiled, "It's okay but just think what you'll be missing out on." she whispered huskily, pulling a pair of lace knickers out of her bag to show to him.

James gulped and met the seductive look in her eyes, they hadn't gone beyond sneakily snogging in broom cupboards between lessons or the groping of her backside during breakfast behind a tapestry before the bell rung for first lesson. He found Marie very attractive and assumed that their relationship would eventually progress to the point of having a physical side but they hadn't really talked as most about it. Marie bit her lip and moved her head closer to his but before he could close the gap between them and kiss her, they were rudely interrupted by Mulciber and Avery.

"And what would two of the school's low graded students want with us?" James asked.

"Finally moved on from Evans have you? Or did she give you a reality check and make you see that you aren't fit to lick her shoes clean?" Avery taunted.

"I had a crush on Lily that's no secret and yes I have moved on as you can see." James gestured to Marie.

"I'm sure Evans is glad about that and now we can take her for ourselves." Avery cackled.

"Don't kid yourself, she isn't into scumbags like you two." James replied.

"That might be true, but we never said that she wouldn't be if she were to put something in her evening pumpkin juice and then had a rather intimate time with me and my friend here." Mulicber added darkly.

James got to his feet and his wand was out of his pocket and pointing at the two Slytherins before he could even blink. Mulicber cackled and the next thing the two Slytherins knew was that James had shot a non-verbal tongue-tying curse at the two of them and they staggered backwards, trying to swear at James and found it impossible. Marie laughed in amusement and stood up but her laughter faded when she saw McGonagall walking across the lawn towards them.

"Potter, detention for the next two nights. See me tonight at eight o'clock and you can explain yourself then."

The Professor walked away and the two Slytherins followed her. James picked up his schoolbag and headed back into the castle, leaving Marie a little upset at his storming off. He didn't head into the Great Hall for dinner, he headed straight for the common room and sat in the corner and smiled slightly when he saw Lily sit opposite him.

"James, you want to get started?" Lily asked.

"Sure."

The two pulled out their textbooks to start their homework and Lily looked at James, with the look of disapproval that she used when they had a conversation before they became friends. The one she usually reserved to let him know her judgement on his detention gaining, prank pulling and showing off.

"What's the matter Lily?" James sighed.

"The whole school is talking about it. How you used a tongue-tying hex on Mulciber and Avery this morning." Lily answered.

"They deserved it." James replied stiffly, starting to write the date on a piece of parchment.

"I also heard that Marie enjoyed it. She seems to be doing wonders for your ego."

James smirked, "Are you jealous?" he asked jokingly.

Lily glared at him as she dipped her quill in her ink pot rather hard, as if she was jealous over James Potter having a girlfriend. In fact, she felt relieved that he had moved on.

"Please. The only thing that bothers me about you and that girlfriend of yours is that you've matured and you're heading back to your old ways because a pretty blonde haired girl laughs and bats her eyelids at your pranks and hexing." Lily sneered.

James slammed his textbook shut and shoved that and his essay into his bag, he stared at her coldly.

"You want to know why I hexed Mulciber and Avery today? Because they know about the affect you have on me and when I refused to comment on why you are friends with me now, they threatened to drug you and rape you. To give you a 'real taste of pureblood'. I don't like the way they spoke about you, they meant their threat and if they had the chance they would rape you and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. So go ahead and scold me and call me a bully for hexing them but they deserved it and I don't give a shit if I've got detention for the next two nights for doing so, threatening rape isn't something they should get away with." James hissed harshly, storming out of the common room.

Lily felt stunned at his outburst and stared in the empty space where James had been sitting moments before. She didn't know the reason behind James's hexing and now she did and she wasn't quite sure how she should feel about it. Part of her felt grateful that James would defend her like that, whereas another part felt surprised that he would defend her at all, especially now that he had a girlfriend. As she was deep in thought and confusion about James's outburst, she didn't register her best friend sitting opposite her.

"Earth to Lily." Marlene sang.

Lily shook her head and smiled, "Sorry Marley, I was miles away." she replied.

"Thinking about your knight in shining armour?" Marlene quizzed.

She frowned at Marlene, not knowing what her best friend was getting at.

"I don't know what you mean." Lily said innocently and returned to her essay.

"Oh Lily you're not blind surely?"

Lily looked up, hating the amused smile on Marlene's face. She didn't like James, not in that way anyway. He was her friend and she would hate to see the effort he had gone to better himself was wasted all because of the girl he was now dating.

"Spit it out Marley."

Marlene raised an eyebrow, "James still has a thing for you and despite his attempts to move on, they clearly aren't working." she said in a low whisper.

Lily snorted, "Snogging Marie in public kind of says that he has." and continued writing her sentence.

"He basically just admitted to you that you affect him and what he's willing to do to protect you against those who threatened severe things about you. If you can't see that then you must be stupid and we both know you're not that." Marlene pointed out.

She shrugged, continuing to write her essay as she considered what her best friend said, "He said he wouldn't wish that threat on anyone Marls, that's all." and dipped her quill in the ink pot once more.

"Okay fine, if you don't want to see it then I can't change your view. But consider this, you are bothered about James and Marie, I've seen the disappointed looks on your face when you see them together and the look on your face the day he came to get his broomstick on their first date. You were hurt that he ditched you for someone else and maybe you just don't want to admit that James Potter is more than just your friend, maybe you just don't want to admit that you want something more with him." Marlene stated and left Lily sitting in the corner by herself.

Lily dropped her quill and sat back in the armchair, deep in thought. Sure she was a little disappointed that James wasn't spending much time with her any more, but he wasn't spending much time with the other marauders as well so it was just the fascination of having a girlfriend right? Marie seemed to be a bad influence on James, after all the hard work he had put in the first term of the school year to mature and now he was back into hexing and pranking and showing off? As her friend, surely she was right to think that James deserved better and that it was only natural to be bothered by Marie for those reasons? She didn't know the answers but she was determined to put her quizzical mind at rest over the ones she was now asking herself thanks to Marlene.


	9. Chapter 9

"You alright Prongs?" Sirius asked as they both bade goodbye to James's mother.

James waved one final time to his mum and the two hauled their trunks onto the train, it had been a rather difficult summer for him. At the beginning of the summer holidays, his dad had been taken ill with Dragon Pox and being quite an elderly wizard, he and his mum had been told that his father was less than likely to recover from the illness. His father had passed away two weeks into the holidays and James had taken his dad's death quite hard. His friends had been supportive, with the marauders as well as Lily, Marlene, Alice, Frank and Mary in attendance at the funeral.

_"James, your mum was wondering where you had gotten to." Lily said quietly, shutting the door to his bedroom._

_"I just needed some quiet time, it's hard facing those people who knew my dad and hearing their apologies. I don't need their apologies or meals right now." James replied, looking out on to the garden feet below the window. _

_"I know." Lily said softly, joining him at looking at the view. _

_"But you don't know how I feel right now." James snapped, walking away from the window and staring at the opposite wall. _

_Lily turned to face him and didn't care that he had his back to her. A tear leaked from her eye, "I am probably the only person here besides you who knows what it feels like to lose their dad." she whispered, a tone of break in her voice. _

_James turned to face her, feeling stunned. He had never known that Lily had lost her own father and as he stared into her heartbroken green eyes he understood that she did know his pain. _

_"I didn't know." _

_Lily nodded, "Not many people do." she replied. _

_"When?" _

_"Shortly before Christmas in our second year. Car accident. They never found the drink driver." she answered, tears falling freely from her face._

_James made a shushing gesture to soothe her as he walked towards her, holding her in his arms as she cried into his jacket. He didn't mind, clearly she was still grieving her own loss as he held her tightly to his chest. When the crying ceased, she looked up at him through puffy eyes, "It didn't get better. Petunia hates me more than ever, my mum finds it painful to talk fondly of him. You don't get over a loss of a parent, instead you learn to live with it." she told him truthfully._

_"Oh Lily." he whispered, stroking her wet cheeks as she continued to gaze into his eyes. _

_His forehead bumped against hers and his heart raced in his chest when he realised that she wasn't going to push him away. Lily had thought she had deeply buried her feelings of loss of her father but being at the funeral of James's dad had brought it all back and she was glad to be alone with James right now. None of her friends besides him had lost their fathers and although James's loss was recent, he wanted to comfort her and she wanted to comfort him. Their noses bumped gently together as James continued to cup her face and Lily's hands were on his chest that she could feel how fast his heart was beating, but before their lips could meet they sprang apart when they heard James's mother calling his name from the bottom of the stairs. _

"I'll be fine Padfoot, my dad would have wanted me to carry on and make him proud." James replied as the train began to slowly pull away from the station and the two made their way through the narrow corridor to find the compartment Peter had reserved for them all.

"I'm sure he would be very proud, especially of that gleaming badge pinned to your chest." Sirius said happily.

James looked down at the shining Head Boy badge that was pinned to the front of his robes, alongside his Quidditch captain one. He smiled, hoping that Sirius was right in saying that his dad would be proud of him despite his numerous detentions and prank pulling that had occurred over the years.

They found their compartment and walked in, shoving their trunks on to the overhead luggage rack and sat with Peter.

"Where's Moony?" James asked.

"Prefect's compartment, meeting with the Head Girl." Peter replied, shoving a Bertie Bott's bean into his mouth.

"Shit." James swore as he darted out of the compartment and headed to the prefect's one.

He tried to dodge the many students who were walking up and down the corridor but failed as most were pushed into the wall and shouted after him and a part of him felt slightly bad but he was determined to get to the compartment, wanting to take his new responsibility seriously. Once he finally reached it and stepped inside, he was not surprised to find out that his Head Girl was none other than Lily Evans.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "I'm surprised to see you in here Potter." she said.

"I-I'm t-the He-Head Boy." he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

She laughed slightly, "Good one Potter."

James showed her the badge pinned to his chest and her eyes widened but she said nothing as she informed the new prefects of their responsibilities and explained how the patrol rota would work, that she would gain a copy of their lesson schedule from their head of house and that she and James would then write up the rota a month in advance to fit around everyone's schedule. She then set that the new prefects to patrol the corridors of the train until the arrival to Hogwarts, to get them used to their new responsibilites. Once dismissed she turned to James.

"I have to say that I'm surprised Dumbledore chose you to be Head Boy." Lily said, eyeing the badge.

"I have to say I'm not surprised that you were chosen as my Head Girl." James replied amusingly.

Her eyes met his and she smiled, "How are you?" she asked.

James shrugged, "Trying to make my dad proud and doing what he wanted but carrying on with my life." he replied.

"That's all you can do."

He nodded, "Does it ever get easier?" he asked.

Lily shrugged this time, "I never forget about my dad and the loss still affects me but carrying on is the best thing to do." she answered.

Silence stayed there for a minute or two, neither sure of what else to say to the other. They had nearly kissed and both weren't sure whether they should bring it up after all they were friends and didn't want to have an awkward discussion about what they almost did. Two, James was still dating Marie and he was beginning to feel differently. The last few months of the last school year with Marie had been great but they hadn't had the chance to explore the physical side to a relationship as they both wanted due to Marie's OWLs and James's sixth year examinations. They had planned to discuss it during the summer holidays but Marie, with her parents being divorced and her mother being French, had to spend the summer with her sisters and mother in France due to custody arrangements. Marie had told James that the agreement between her parents were that her father would have full custody and live with him during the Easter and Christmas holidays and attend school in England, if they could spend the whole summer with her and have their last names changed to her maiden name 'Clarence' so she had no choice but to spend her whole summer living in Paris.

James still liked her a lot and had written to his girlfriend when his father had died and although she had replied with that she wished she could give him a hug, she just bragged about her summer in the French capital. It was as if the girl he had met seven months ago was a completely different person because she had not once offered to support him through a difficult time. On the other hand, Lily had written to him after the funeral and they had met up to shop for school supplies together and he felt a lot closer to Lily through this.

"Lily, can we-"

The door to the compartment opened and they turned to see that Marie had stepped in. She smiled brightly, her blonde hair longer than it had been when James had last seen her.

"James, I missed you." Marie squealed, throwing her arms around him and planting a snog on his lips.

Lily coughed and the two separated, "I'll see you later James." she said quietly and slipped out of the compartment.

"I missed you too." James muttered.

The two left the compartment and headed to the one where James's friends were sitting, "You honestly have no idea how much I have missed English food. I mean French food is great and sophisticated but when it's all your mother will have prepared for three meals a day for eight weeks, it's a little boring after a while. I can't wait for the feast and the sorting and maybe we can skip first lesson tomorrow and you can show me how much you've missed me?" Marie hinted.

"I don't think that's a good idea." James replied quietly.

"Why not?" Marie pouted.

"Because I'm Head Boy now and I need to set an example." James stated.

"You never said!"

James felt a little annoyed, knowing that he had mentioned in one of his letters to his girlfriend that he had been made Head Boy. It was evident that Marie hadn't read his letters properly. The two of them slipped into the Marauders compartment and were surprised to see that Marlene, Mary and Lily were sat in there too. Mary and Remus were cuddled up by the window whilst Peter and Marlene were playing exploding snap as Lily and Sirius were having a debate over who the most annoying teacher in the school was.

Marie sat in James's lap and the two joined in with Lily and Sirius's debate which James found rather amusing as Lily said she found Binns annoying and was glad that she didn't take History of Magic any more. Sirius stated he found Slughorn annoying because of his special SlugClub to which Lily replied he was only bitter about it because his younger brother had been accepted as one of Slughorn's favourites during her previous school year. James looked to Marie and saw her frowning as she stared at his glasses.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her.

Marie smiled slightly, "Have you considered wearing contact lenses? You wouldn't have to worry about breaking your glasses for one thing and another I think you would be more gorgeous without them." she replied.

Lily looked at the couple, "You know you could just accept your boyfriend for who he is you know instead of trying to change him into someone you want him to be. If James wants to be more mature then let him it's his life. He shouldn't have to change who he is for you unless he wants to change for himself. I happen to think James is quite good looking with his glasses as do most other girls and they don't have a problem with it." she snapped.

Marie didn't know what to say in reply to Lily, she merely sulked in the corner of the train for the rest of the journey and didn't notice the longing eye contact that James and Lily shared for perhaps, a few minutes longer than they should have. When Lily started up a game of exploding snap with Sirius, James felt touched by Lily's defense and wished that she could see that his changing of his ways the year before was because he wanted to be a better person and to be someone she would consider worthy of her. But instead he had a girl who wanted to change him for herself and he concluded that maybe it was time to do some thinking about his future with Marie.


	10. Chapter 10

Seventh year had always been told as the most difficult and Lily was beginning to believe the tales she had heard about it being stressful. Although she only took seven lessons now her timetable was always full of classes, revision sessions with the girls, alone time studying in the library or a quiet corner of the common room as well as nightly patrols with James on Tuesday nights which lasted well into the early hours of the next morning.

She didn't know where she stood with James, the only thing she knew was that she felt a lot closer to him since his dad's funeral. Lily felt confused, the looks they shared, the laughter and the moment where their eyes met and the rest of the world was drowned out. There was also the feeling of jealousy when she saw James with Marie and she still didn't understand why, she refused to believe that she had feelings for James Potter.

It was early in October when Lily walked out of the Great Hall after breakfast to head to her Arithmancy class when Marie stepped in her way. Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, checking her watch when the blonde refused to move.

"Lily, can I talk to you for a second?" Marie asked brightly.

"Make it quick." Lily replied, walking up the marble staircase, with Marie only seconds behind her.

"Well me and James haven't had much time together since we came back to school and he won't skip classes and we have one free period a week together and all we do is study! We haven't even taken the next step because we have no time alone together!-"

"Get to the point Marie, I don't particularly want to listen to you moaning. I have a class to get to." Lily snapped as she made her way through the crowded corridors.

"Right sorry. Anyway, I know James is supposed to be on patrol with you tonight but could you let him have this one off?" Marie asked.

Lily stopped in her tracks and stared at Marie, she didn't know whether to admire the girl's efforts to ask for some time with her boyfriend or to dock house points from Ravenclaw for her lack of understanding of her boyfriend's commitments. James was the Head Boy and she had chosen Tuesday as their night to patrol because of his Quidditch commitments and his schedule. He could do so much better than Marie.

"I don't think so." Lily answered and continued to walk.

"That's not fair-" Marie began to protest.

Lily turned around, face matching the same colour as her hair in anger. The sixth year girl was acting like a spoiled brat that had been refused a toy or sweets and she was going to stand for it. Marie had to understand that James had more important things to take care of than his girlfriend's whining for attention.

"Marie I've already said no and now I'm deducting ten house points from Ravenclaw for your whining and waste of my time. Carry on and you'll get detention too. Now get to class before I deduct another ten points for lateness." Lily shouted.

Slightly shocked and embarassed, Marie retreated in the opposite direction and Lily exhaled heavily as she made her way to Arithmancy. She didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt for shouting at her friend's girlfriend or deducting house points and she didn't care whether Marie would go crying to James about it either. She didn't even pay attention in Arithmancy as she was too busy thinking it over why James was still with Marie. Clearly the girl wanted to change the way James looked, she was always dropping hints about James changing his glasses to contact lenses and making him sit with her during meal times and moaned about how much time she spent with the other marauders, even going as far to say that she didn't understand why he was friends with Sirius and Peter. Lily felt the girl was a huge annoyance, especially with how she had to make a spectacle out of herself by snogging James rather enthusiastically in public, even going as far as tucking her hands into the waistband of his trousers in the middle of the corridor. She was an embarrassment.

After Arithmancy, she returned to the common room for her free period; still in a foul mood from her earlier encounter with Marie. She slumped down into one of the comfy armchairs by the fireplace and chucked her bag to the floor. She still had to finish an essay for Slughorn and had to read ten pages of her Transfiguration textbook for McGonagall. But she wasn't in the mood to start homework, it would just make her mood worse. As she closed her eyes, she heard someone occupy the chair next to hers and wasn't surprised to see James sat there.

"Bad day? It's just second period." James teased.

"I don't want to talk about it." Lily huffed.

James's smile faded and he stood, pulling her to her feet. Lily frowned when he then picked up their schoolbags and exited the common room. The corridors were practically empty, with the odd sixth or seventh year walking down the moving staircases to the library.

"Where are we going?" Lily grumbled.

"I have something that will cheer you up." James smiled in an innocent tone.

When they reached the entrance hall, James pulled her behind a suit of armour and checked his watch and counted in a low whisper, "Three...Two..One..." and they both looked in direction of the caretaker's office. Lily nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a horrified shriek come from within the office and a few seconds later, Filch came running out of his office, clutcing the remaining strands of hair that remained on his head. Lily burst into a fit laughter, having never witnessed a funnier sight than the most hated person on the school staff holding the strands of hair that had fallen out of his head and whispering to them as if they were an crying baby that needed soothing.

McGonagall came from the staff room, trying to calm down the angry caretaker and dragged the caretaker in the direction of the hospital wing. When the laughter finally settled, she looked up at James; her cheeks and ribs hurting from laughing so much. James smiled as he stroked away a tear of laughter from her eyes and she noticed the warm look that had been there over the past month. The look which had lasted much longer than it should have done for friends, the look which made Lily see into his soul that he was indeed a good person and that she had been wrong about him, the look which made her heart beat faster in her chest that she was sure, just by how close he stood to her behind the suit of armour, that he could hear it.

He was too close. Lily could feel his breath on her face, she could feel her back against the stone wall with his hands on either side of her. James moved his right hand and tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear, smelling the coconut shampoo that she had used in the shower that morning to wash her hair with. He loved the softness, like velvet. Her green eyes inquisitive and confused, why did she look so confused?

"We should-"

James stepped away from her and handed Lily her schoolbag, the look of confusion still between them.

"Do you want to get something to eat? The elves are making apple crumble for dessert tonight, they'll happily give us a piece now?" James suggested.

Lily nodded her head, "Sure, we probably won't get a chance tonight to eat dessert anyway." she replied.

The two headed to the kitchens and climbed through the tiny crawlspace to be greeted by an house elf. They sat at a table and caught up, with James telling Lily his plans to hold tryouts in the next week and Lily telling him more about how her summer holidays had gone, which included the details of her sister dating a new man named Vernon, who she worked for. James joked that her sister was trying get somewhere within the company but Lily replied that Vernon was just Petunia's type, he was 'normal'.

They heard the bell ring for third period and they sighed heavily, both wishing that they could skive off Charms and continue to eat the delicious apple crumble. But due to both wanting to do well in their exams in the Spring, they both exited the kitchen and headed to the Charms classroom.

Lily found that the rest of the day wasn't as bad. For once, Flitwick hadn't given them any homework, just advised them to continue praticing the new spell that they were learning in class. She ate lunch with Marlene and Alice and after lunch went to Double Potions and had a study session with Mary in the afternoon. At dinner, she entered the Great Hall with Remus to see that James was sat once again at the Ravenclaw table with a sulky looking Marie.

"You miss hanging out with him too?" Remus asked.

Lily blinked and looked at her friend and nodded as they sat in an empty gap at the Gryffindor table.

"I just think he's trying too hard to make her happy. All she does is sulk." Lily answered.

"That may be true but he seems to like her." Remus said.

"That and she's a good kisser." Sirius added.

Lily's stomach dropped, did James really think Marie was a good kisser? _Well she must be. _Lily thought to herself, considering that is what they do most of the time that they spend together. The group ate cottage pie for dinner and just as the apple crumble came up, to which Peter's eyes lighted up in delight, Lily caught James's gaze and gestured that they leave. They had to discuss James having a Tuesday night off at the end of the month when Remus would be turning and they had to discuss it whilst everyone else was at dinner.

"Marie wasn't very happy about me not having dessert with her." James muttered, as they left the Great Hall.

"Is she ever happy these days?" Lily replied.

"She just feels that I'm not spending enough time with her." James sighed.

They said nothing else to each other until they returned to the common room and were glad to see that it was empty, but James didn't want to risk being overheard should someone return early. They climbed the boy's staircase and entered the room that James shared with his friends, Lily wrinkled her nose at the pile of dirty socks that sat at the foot of Sirius's bed. James sat on his bed and patted for Lily to sit next to him to which she did. She looked around the room, noticing that it was the same shape as the one she shared with the girls. Lily's eyes fell onto a photograph on James's bedside table and she recognised James and his mother in the picture, standing happily besides a man who was a tall as James, with the same black messy hair and rounded shaped glasses. The man in the picture had to be Jame's father.

"I never knew you looked so much like your father." Lily said softly.

"I do, except my eyes. I inherited the hazel eyes from my mother." James replied.

Lily met his gaze once more, still smiling until his soft hand caressed her cheek. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as she felt his thumb slowly and gracefully moved across the soft skin of her cheek. James brought his forehead to her own and she felt his heavy breathing on her closed eyelids.

"Lily." he whispered.

Her eyes snapped open and she leapt away from him, aware of what would have happened if she had responded the way she wanted to. Oh how much she wanted to. James looked at her, just like he had that morning and she found herself backing away towards the door.

"Umm y-you can have t-the T-tuesday off." Lily stammered and exited the dormitory.

_What the hell? _Lily thought to herself as she sat in front of the fireplace. She didn't know what to feel. She had wanted to kiss him like he had clearly wanted to kiss her, but James had a girlfriend and having these thoughts and feelings didn't change that fact; it only made her feel worse. As much as she disliked Marie, she wouldn't pursue James whilst he was with her.

Everyone returned to the common room and she spent a little while finishing her Potions essay with Alice until James came down the boy's staircase and announced it was time to start their patrol. Lily bade goodbye to her friends and left Gryffindor tower with James, hoping that the night would progress quickly.

ooOoo

A clock chimed midnight as James and Lily searched the fourth floor. Their wands lit and both yawning loudly as they both wished that the next hour would go quickly so that they could return to their beds. The night had been a slow one, having caught three first years trying to sneak into the restricted section of the library to ease their curiosity. Moaning Myrtle had flooded the girl's bathroom on the second floor three times in one night that they had spent forty minutes helping Filch clear the floor and Peeves had stolen some dungbombs from some fifth year students and was setting them off in every corner of every corridor that stood inside the castle.

"One hour left." James said.

"I so need to sleep. I'll check classroom 4b while you check 4c." Lily yawned.

James nodded and they headed off to check the different classrooms. It wasn't as if there were many hiding places inside the classrooms but Lily checked under every desk, in each cupboard and behind the blackboard until she was satisfied that the classroom was clear. She exited the classroom and locked the door and seeing that James wasn't in the corridor waiting for her, she decided to go and meet him from 4c.

When she reached 4c, she was a little shocked to see James laying on a desk with Marie straddling him, trying to undo his belt buckle. Lily flicked her wand and all the candles in the classroom came alight and both James and Marie looked at Lily.

"What is this?!" Lily shrieked.

"Well you wouldn't let Jamie have some time off with me, so I thought I'd surprise him." Marie replied defiantly.

Lily scoffed, "You are a sixth year, you should know the rules by now." she tutted.

"Stop being Miss Goody-Two-Shoes." Marie spat, climbing off James.

"I think you need to sort out your priorities Miss Clarence." Lily replied stiffly.

"James is my priority."

Lily laughed harshly, "Really? So where were you when his dad died? Where were you when the funeral happened? That's right you were in France for eight weeks and couldn't give your boyfriend a second thought when he was going through the hardest thing in his life." she snapped.

Marie didn't know what to say, she opened her mouth to say something but closed it immediately. Both girls glared at each other and didn't notice that James had slipped off the desk and straighten his robes.

"Stop trying to be perfect Lily, you're nothing but a mudblooded bitch who looks down her nose at everyone else. At least James saw sense and moved on from you, he's with me now and he's happy because he doesn't have to take rejection from you." Marie sneered.

Lily slapped her, feeling angrier than ever in her entire life. How could Marie insult her like that? James said nothing, staring at the two girls and clearly unsure of what he should do.

"Fifty points from Ravenclaw. Two weeks detention." Lily muttered.

"That's not fair!" Marie cried, clutching her redded cheek.

"One. Sneaking out of your dormitory after hours. Two. Trying to have sex with your boyfriend, the Head Boy, whilst he's doing his duties. Three. Setting a bad example to younger students when you should know better. And finally, using foul language at your Head Girl. I think it's more than fair." Lily stated, turning her back on James and Marie.

She didn't stop to listen to the angry outbursts from Marie and she didn't care when James shouted back that she was horrible for calling Lily a mudblooded bitch. All Lily wanted to do was report back to McGonagall and climb into bed and forget that this day had ever happened. It was as she left the fourth floor and climbed down the stairs to head in the direction of McGonagall's office when she felt a strong grip pull her behind a tapestry and pin her against the cold wall.

"What?" Lily demanded, glaring at James.

"I'm sorry, she shouldn't have done any of that." James apologised.

"Why are you with her? She's a horrible and pathetic little girl." Lily replied.

James sighed, he didn't know how to answer her and Lily tried to push him away but he held her tighter, pressing his body against hers to prevent her escape.

"I don't know. I thought she was nice and I liked her but now-"

"Now what?"

James looked down into her eyes, "She shouldn't have called you that." he replied.

"I don't care Potter. I'm not ashamed of my heritage, I have a mother and a father who loved me for my difference, even if my sister hates it. I wouldn't trade my muggle parents or my lifestyle for all the pureblooded heritage in the world. I'm a mudblood and proud of if!" Lily said softly.

"Hearing Marie say those things to you, it made me see her differently." James admitted.

Lily pushed him away slightly, getting a little angry they were still on the subject when she just wanted to go to bed.

"Just drop it, have this conversation with your precious girlfriend!"

"Lily-"

"I'm tired of hearing about her James, just drop it and let me go."

"No Lily-"

"Potter I'm warning you-"

"Lily just shut up!" James hissed and pushed her back against the wall and pressed his lips to her own.

* * *

**A/N: Okay I'm leaving it there as it's already a long chapter and it's getting late and I need to be up early in the morning. I'm also thinking about leaving this story for a while, I'm not sure how long for but for personal reasons, I need to put it on the backburner so I can focus on other things. I apologise but my reasons for it are important. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: So I apologise for the nearly two week absence but for those of you disappointed, I have stated in my bio that I'm a mother of two and my personal reasons were my son, who is going through a lot with his health right now. But no more delays, here is chapter eleven and I hope you like it.**

* * *

She felt his soft lips press against her own and felt a little stunned at what he was doing, but she closed her eyes and moved her lips in unison with James. His lips were surprisingly soft and expert at making her go weak at the knees that she felt him snake one arm around her waist and lift her off the ground so that they were the same height as he continued to kiss her in the same slow and teasing pace. Lily placed her hands in his hair and held him to her and felt his tongue lightly flick her at lips, curious and asking for entry, trying to coax something deeper from her. She allowed his tongue entrance and heard him groan into her mouth as his curious tongue met hers.

James stopped his teasing pace as he felt the tips of Lily's fingernails dig into his scalp but deepened the kiss as his free hand cupped her face. The smell of coconut still lingered on her hair and filled his nostrils, how he loved the smell of her shampoo. As she continued to match his enthusiasm, Lily suddenly realised that she hadn't breathed since James had started the kiss. She was the first to break the kiss, gasping for breath and listened to the ragged breathing coming from James.

"What just happened?" Lily asked, in a shocked whisper.

"We just kissed." James confirmed.

"I know that. Why did it happen?" Lily clarified, pacing up and down the passageway.

She looked at James and noticed the warm look in his eyes that she had become accustomed to whenever they shared eye contact. He slowly walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist, moving his forehead to bump against hers. Lily knew what was happening, he was going to kiss her again and as much as she wanted him to, she placed her hands firmly on his chest, ignoring the muscles she felt through his shirt, and lightly pushed him away. James looked down at her with a confused frown as her facial expression turned to a stern look which she usually reserved for students who had been caught rule breaking. Lily stepped backwards and exhaled heavily, still looking into his eyes and feeling a tad bit guilty for hurting his feelings.

"This can't happen." Lily said.

"Why? And don't fob me off with that you didn't want it, you kissed me back." James replied.

"I did want it but I shouldn't have. You have a girlfriend, a pain in the arse one, but still one nonetheless. We just cheated on Marie by kissing each other." Lily pointed out.

James scratched his nose and pushed his glasses further up it before answering her, "That's not all is it?" he questioned.

Lily felt herself getting annoyed and stormed out of the passageway with James on her tail as she walked down the moving staircases in the direction of McGongall's office. Never before had she been this confused about a boy, never had she thought she would snog a boy whilst he was in a relationship with someone else. Oh how guilty she felt, _how great that kiss had been _she thought but shook her head to stop herself from thinking that she could become romantically involved with James Potter.

Their report back to McGonagall was finished rather quickly, with Lily telling McGonagall about the incident with Marie to which McGongall agreed the punishments were fairly given and that she'd supervise the first detention with Marie the following night. Lily left the office and she walked back to the common room with James in complete and awkward silence, making sure that she avoided making eye contact with him; for she knew that if she did she would lost in the warm pools of hazel, the rest of the world would be drowned out and it would only be her and him to do as they pleased. She couldn't allow that to happen, she and James were just friends and he had a girlfriend, as much as that pained her to think about; Marie was still James's girlfriend and seeing the two of them in the classroom didn't exactly say that James was ready to end the relationship.

Saying the password and scrambling through the portrait hole, she marched into the common room to see that the fire was burning out and that she was completely alone with James. Lily didn't bother bidding him goodnight, she simply made her way up the girl's staircase. Suddenly her footing slipped and she was sliding down the staircase and landed with a startled 'oomph' on top of James. He gasped in pain from where she had landed on him so fast and after a few minutes, their eyes met.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" Lily asked.

"A little but my fault." James replied.

They both got to their feet and stared at the staircase which was setting itself back into steps rather than a slide and she turned to meet James's gaze.

"I never knew the girl's one did that." James mused._  
_

"Seriously, read Hogwarts: A History from page to page instead of skimming. You'd be surprised how much information there is in that book." Lily said.

"Look Lily-"

"Let's just forget that tonight ever happened, we're better off as friends." she said and turned to leave.

"But-"

She didn't face him this time but closed her eyes and said harshly, "Nothing can ever happen between us James." and put her foot on the first step only to hear his reply, "But it did." which caused her to freeze momentarily before she carried on her way up the girl's staircase and climbed into her bed fully clothed, closing her eyes and having restless sleep as her thoughts trailed back through the day's events and realising that James had been right, something did happen between them and now she doubted whether she could remain friends with him; only time would tell.

ooOoo

"But it did."

He watched as Lily froze momentarily before disappearing up the girl's staircase and this time he wasn't even going to attempt to follow her, not now that he knew that boys couldn't enter the girl's dormitory. James fell into one of the armchairs and massaged his temple, trying to rid himself of the aching pain that had been there since his argument with Marie. _What a mess! _he thought to himself and sat upright when he heard the Fat Lady swing open and footsteps climbing through the portrait hole.

"Who did you prank tonight guys?" James asked quietly.

The sound of a cloak dropping to the floor made him turn his head to see his three best friends. The boys took a seat next to James, with Sirius grinning madly.

"Well, let's just say that Madam Pince will be wearing a peg on her nose." Peter replied.

"So I'm avoiding the library during free period tomorrow." James grinned.

"We also caught a Slytherin third year out and about, so we used the leg locking hex on him." Sirius said.

"So how was patrol?" Remus asked.

James sighed, causing the other three to look at each other.

"Well let's just say that I argued with Marie and I don't think Lily will be talking to me any time soon." James replied.

"What happened?" Remus questioned.

"Marie's been complaining that I don't spend a lot of time with her right now, what with Quidditch tryouts soon and patrols and seventh year in general. Marie tried to surprise me tonight by jumping on me in a fourth floor classroom." James sighed.

"And Lily walked in?" Peter asked.

James nodded, "Yeah. Marie and Lily argued and Marie called Lily a mudblooded bitch. Lily punished Marie and then I argued with her and went after Lily-"

"Bad move." Sirius chipped in, shaking his head.

"I was angry, you know I hate it when other students use a person's heritage against them. Marie isn't the person I thought she was if she's suddenly against muggleborns being here." James snapped.

"Calm down, tell us what happened with Lily." Remus said quietly.

James paused and scratched his head, "Well we...er...we." he coughed, "I kissed her."

"You kissed Evans?!" Sirius asked, quite shocked.

"Yeah and she kissed me back."

Sirius clapped James on the back, "That's my Prongs." he laughed.

"So why are you so glum?" Peter asked, pulling a box of Bertie Bott's out of his pocket and opening it.

James sighed heavily, "Lily's adamant that nothing can ever happen between us." he muttered.

Remus smiled sympathetically as he helped himself to a Bertie Bott's bean from the box that Peter had just offered him, "Prongs, do you still like Lily?" he asked.

James nodded, placing his head in his hands at the mess he was in. He didn't know what to do, he still liked Lily but he liked Marie and the latter was his girlfriend. After years of waiting for a chance to be romantic with Lily, it had come and passed with a blink of the eyes and now he was unsure of where he stood, with Lily or with Marie.

"What am I going to do?" James groaned.

"Well Marie using Lily's heritage against her kind of tells me that she doesn't care about using that to hurt someone, it tells me that she's not the person you liked." Sirius said.

"I'd break up with Marie." Peter mused.

"And talk to Lily in a few days, give her some time to process what happened and see where you both stand." Remus said.

James yawned heavily and the boys stood up, climbing the boy's staircase to get themselves ready for bed. But just as easily as the other three fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow, James didn't get much sleep that night. He was too busy thinking of the two girls he was torn between and what his next move was.

ooOoo

The next morning, Lily woke up by being poked in the shoulder by Alice. She stretched and yawned before sitting up in her bed to see that her dorm mates were already dressed for the school day. She groaned and tried to pull the covers back over her head, not wanting to get up and face James for the entire day after what had happened the night before.

"Come on Lily." Alice commanded, pulling the covers off.

"Alice!" Lily yawned heavily.

"We'll meet you in the Great Hall. Hurry up, breakfast will be over soon." Mary said.

She heard the other girls leave the dormitory as she placed her feet on the stone cold floor, making her shudder. Getting up from the bed, she undressed and pulled on her school uniform, hoping that the day wouldn't be as awkward as she thought it was going to be.

ooOoo

When James reached the marble staircase that morning, he sighed heavily when he saw that Marie was waiting for him at the bottom. He walked down and stood in front of her, smiling awkwardly. Marie took hold of his hand and looked up at him, making him see the sadness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry about last night." Marie mumbled.

"Look Marie-"

"I was just so angry with Lily, she seems determined to keep us from spending time together. I took it too far though." Marie said.

"You were out of line." James pointed out.

"Jamie, can we just get past this?" she asked impatiently.

"You can't just ask me to put this behind us, you called Lily a very nasty name just because you were angry and using someone's heritage against them is the same as bullying someone because of their skin colour or hair colour or if their too tall or too short. You're not the person I thought you were." James replied harshly.

Marie's eye welled up in tears, "What are you saying?" she whispered.

James sighed, he didn't know what he wanted or what the right thing to do was any more. He still had feelings for Marie and he still had them for Lily, despite his efforts to give the relationship with Marie a chance.

"I need some space to get my head sorted." James stated.

"So as in a break?" Marie asked.

"I don't know Marie, just give me a few days or a week where you aren't pestering me to think about who I want."

Marie's eyes narrowed, "_Who _you want?" she asked.

James didn't know how to answer, his eyes met the green ones that belonged to Lily. Marie looked between the two of them and stormed off into the Great Hall, leaving Lily and James to look at each other for a little longer than Lily would have liked. As Lily walked down the staircase, James went out to reach for her but she shoved past him.

"Lily-"

Turning to face him, he noticed how tired she looked. It was nice to know that he wasn't the only one who didn't have a good night's sleep.

"Nothing can happen between us." she whispered, and he couldn't help but notice the tone of break in her voice.

She didn't give him a chance to reply, she left him watching as she went to join her friend's for breakfast. James didn't follow, he returned to the dormitory and laid down on his bed, deciding to skip first period. He had not in so many words told his girlfriend that he was unsure of who he wanted to be with instead of telling her he needed to think about what he wanted and now he suspected that neither girl would want anything to do with him. What a mess he had gotten himself into and he knew that it would only be up to him to get himself out of it.


	12. Chapter 12

James smiled happily as he looked at the newly formed Gryffindor Quidditch team, satisfied that he had chosen Sirius as his third chaser, Alice as his new seeker and a fourth year with broad shoulders named George Booth.

"Right team, first practice in on Wednesday after last classes and will last until eight o'clock. I'd suggest eating a big lunch as you won't have the chance to grab any dinner." James said.

"Training us harder this year Captain?" Keira Huntley teased, causing the teammates who had been on the team the previous year to laugh slightly.

"Something like that Keira." James replied with a smile.

"Can we go in for some dinner now?" George asked, his stomach rumbling.

"Good work guys, see you all on Wednesday."

The team left the pitch and headed back to the castle for the last remaining half an hour of dinner. He watched in longing as Lily walked from the seats with Marlene and Mary to greet Alice, all three hugging their friend in happiness of Alice's success. Lily looked back at him, sharing a small smile before leaving the pitch with her friends; causing James to sigh heavily.

It had been a week since he had kissed Lily and since he had asked Marie for some space and he didn't feel any better for it. Lily would smile awkwardly at him in classes, in the common room and in the corridors but other than that she barely spoke to him and was avoiding spending time alone with him. At dinner she would make sure at least one of their friends were sat with them if not between them as if trying to stop herself from giving into temptation. Then there was the matter of Marie, who would give him evils if he was sat near Lily or have tears in her eyes when he refused to be alone with her. She had a habit of waiting for him outside every class and would whine when Sirius walked with him to the next one. He snapped at her on the third day of her doing this, saying that nothing had changed in the three days since his request for space and that nothing ever would if she continued to bug him. After that, she gladly gave him the space that he needed. Until now.

As he got to the gates of the pitch, there she stood. Blonde hair curled like it had been on their first date, wrapped in her cloak and wearing her Ravenclaw scarf and it wasn't even November yet but he guessed that she could already feel the chill in the air. James rolled his eyes and continued to walk, with Marie keeping up with his pace.

"James it's been a week, when will you forgive me?" Marie whined.

"It isn't just about forgiving you Marie-"

"I know. You've still got feelings for Lily Evans." Marie said bitterly.

James stopped and turned to her, telling himself to stop lying. There was no point in denying his feelings for Lily, he had tried to move on but yet the feelings still remained. Marie knew it just as much as he did and denying his feelings for Lily to his current girlfriend was hurtful to all parties involved.

"I do. I tried to move on but my feelings for her haven't faded." James admitted.

"What about me?" Marie asked quietly.

"I like you but you aren't the girl I thought you were." James stated.

"I want to be, just give me one more chance." Marie pleaded.

"It's a little more complicated than that."

"How so?"

"I kissed Lily." James said.

Marie's eyes turned angry as she stormed back into the castle with James hurrying after her; silently wishing that he hadn't said anything about kissing Lily. Bursting through the front doors of the castle, Marie hurried up the Grand Staircase to see Lily turning off to walk up a moving staircase.

"Marie, it wasn't her who-"

But Marie ignored him trying to explain that it was him who initiated the kiss, she didn't seem to care about anything else but confronting Lily about what had gone on the previous week. Marie was livid as she stopped at the bottom of the staircase, fists clenched.

"Oi Evans!" Marie shouted.

Lily turned around, sighing and walking back down the stairs with Marlene, Alice and Mary stood on the landing above watching what was going on.

"What do you want Marie?" Lily asked.

"So you think it's okay to go around kissing other people's boyfriends?" Marie growled.

Lily's eyes went to James's, who mouthed an apology at her.

"It was a mistake, it didn't mean anything." Lily said.

"It meant nothing? Really? So why is James telling me that he can't just continue in our relationship because he still has feelings for you?" Marie asked.

James stared at Lily as she seemed lost for words and Marie used the silence to her advantage. Marie slapped Lily around the face with the latter's cheek burning a bright red, almost as bright as her hair. James pulled Marie back, knowing that she wanted to fly off the handle and beat Lily to a pulp, he had seen many girls look the way Marie did at this moment. He threw her behind him, angry that she had slapped Lily when it had been entirely down to him; blaming himself that Lily had gotten slapped when it should have been him.

"It's over Marie." James shouted.

Marie stormed off in the direction of Ravenclaw tower, with James taking Lily by the hand and taking her down to the kitchens to get her an ice pack for her cheek. Lily said nothing to him as she allowed him to help her through the crawlspace and sat on the kitchen side as an house elf rushed around trying to find something for Lily to put on her face.

"I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that." James muttered.

Lily scoffed, "I kissed you back, we both cheated on her." she replied.

"I initiated it-"

"It doesn't matter, it's done now." Lily said.

James took the ice pack from the house elf and pressed it to her cheek, making her gasp at the coldness. He tucked her hair behind her ear, not wanting her hair to get messed up if the ice pack started to melt.

"So was Marie right in saying you still have feelings for me?" she asked curiously.

"I have tried to move on but my feelings remain. I couldn't lie to her anymore, I had to tell her the truth. Lily, it's always you." he whispered, looking deeply into her eyes.

Lily didn't move her gaze away from him as she moved her hand to cover his to take the ice pack off her now numbed face. His forehead pressed against hers and his breathing quickened as their noses bumped together. His heart raced faster in his chest as he dropped the ice pack and folded his fingers inbetween her own whilst his other hand cupped her face.

"Lily-"

Her lips pressed lightly against his own, as if she was tired of fighting the urge. Their mouths moved in unison, his hands moving to wrap around her waist and her legs locked around his as she continued to sit on the kitchen counter. He had missed the smell of her coconut shampoo that lingered on her hair as if it were only yesterday that they had shared their first kiss. He wished that he could kiss her for a little longer but she pulled away from him, opening her eyes and looking up at him.

"What happened to 'nothing can happen between us'?" he teased.

"I can't keep ignoring these moments and I can't keep avoiding you but I'm confused. I need some time to figure some things out." Lily said quietly.

"Take as much time as you need, I can wait a little longer." he promised.

She smiled as she untucked her legs from his and hopped off the counter, her cheek no longer hurting from the slap Marie had given her.

"That doesn't mean you can kiss me whenever you want, I mean it. I need some time to figure out this confusion that I've been feeling about you lately." Lily said sternly.

James smirked, "Well I'm not making any promises." he replied.

"You need some time too, you've just broken up with Marie."

His smirk faded, "So where does this leave us?" he asked.

"For now, friends still but perhaps something more later on down the line? I don't know, this is confusing." Lily moaned.

"Okay, let's just agree that we're friends for the time being." James suggested.

Lily smiled, "Thank you." she mumbled.

James returned her smile as they left through the crawlspace and returned to the common room, not caring that by the next morning the whole school would have heard about him kissing Lily last week and that they would most likely be the centre of school gossip in weeks to come.


End file.
